hello floral! I noticed the green algae before buying the plant but it was on all 3 available pots of rosemary so i thought it was just some fertiliser or how the soil suppose to look. i will let it dry out. i guess i am just trying to learn how to do some herb gardening with the supermarket plants, it is difficult for me to get down to a garden centre without a car. they are all in awkward places impossible to reach by subway. I only have two more months here before i leave for summer, where i will have a friend care for my plants, they might or might not survive summer. I hope to have them strong enough so my friend would have to use very little effort to keep the plants alive, and then i can take them back for the next academic year. i have an 5W LED lamp, should i have it on 24hours on the rosemary?

on the upside, i counted the amount i spent to discover this indoor gardening hobby. £1.75 for the mint, £1.20 chives, £1.00 basil, £1.20 rosemary and £1 for compost. total under £7!!!!! wouldnt get such prices at a garden centre :D

Certainly good value. I wouldn't bother with the lamp. Just shove it right up against the window and turn regularly. Any chance they can spend the summer outside?

Alright. no lamp then. but i do have a fan facing my plants for some air circulation. It is right up against the window :D

I dont think they will be spending summer outside. none of my friends own porches, we are all poor students in rented flats. and i dont want to trouble my friends too much if they have to look out for the plants and take them in when the Scottish weather becomes annoying...

Hey James,

We've already discussed elsewhere why having a light on 24hrs is not helpful! Give the plants a rest. Next tip--when you see an herb at the market, wait to purchase. Go home and do basic research on whether you're ready for it. Please don't take this as criticism--I love your enthusiasm and am happy to help. But, you've also just picked one of the tougher herbs to keep potted indoors, with different habits than the other three you have. It took me over two years to find the sweet spot for my rosemary, between light and location and soil and watering, etc. So, do what you can, but don't be surprised if this rosey doesn't last long, especially if a friend has the care. I started trying with the beautiful shaped rosemary trees, only to learn that when I'm learning myself how to care for a specific plant that I have to start with really healthy plants. Those trees were pretty, but very rootbound and unhealthy. So, even when I did everything right, they still only made it so long. And Floral's right--this one doesn't look healthy to start. Stems should be starting to be woody at this stage.

The green soil is a big issue--rosemary needs very well draining soil as it is prone to rootrot. It shows that it's been kept consistently moist. I mix a bonsai or succulent soil in with my potting mix for mine--basically rocks and small compost wood for drainage. Then don't water until you see the tips droop. So, I would repot since the soil is contaminated. Pot size--go no more than 5cm larger than the rootball. If you go bigger, the extra soil just holds extra moisture in and then the rootrot. Indoor rosemary is also very prone to powdery mildew--if you see white fuzz forming on the leaves you'll need to take care of that.

Rosemary is a slow growing shrub. It will bush a bit as you cut to harvest. You won't hurt it by taking some tip cuttings for cooking with. But, don't expect it to double in size anytime soon.

And...it looks like you got your basil to root in the water?

Rosemary, chives and mint will happily survive the entire Summer outdoors in Scotland. Mint and chives will survive the winter too. As will Rosemary in many places. So your friends would not need to keep moving these two in and out. Basil needs more heat and even down here I keep it in a glass porch all the time.

Believe me, I know about trying to garden in a student room. I had a window box on my uni windowsill and the hyacinths always bloomed when I was away over Easter. But the cleaners enjoyed them ;-)

Hey Balloon! I saw it in the store only 3 times over 2 months, they stock it and it sells out within a day. And the first two times I saw but didnt get it, I kept dreaming about it. And since it was only £1.20, I decided that I would rather get it and if it doesnt do too well, it was not a big loss. So I grabbed it when I saw it. I was very skeptical and wanted to put it down but I tried one of the leaves and it tasted amazing. So I bought it anyway. I guess I will email the store about the algae on the soil. I did see some white powdery stuff but I brushed it off. The store has a refund policy, I have kept the packaging and the receipt. Should I return Rory the rosemary, or try my luck with him? :(

AND YESSSS!!! The basil took about 7-8 days before the tips of the roots came out, it has been 14 days now. Roots are about 1cm long, the longest being 2cm but that is just one root, most of the roots are 1cm long. Time to pot him?

YOU HAVE CLEANERS AS A STUDENT?????

I will pester my friend and see what she thinks about plants. But still, I dont feel very secure leaving plants outside... people can steal them... my babies... :(

I would keep Rory and give it a shot. You didn't make a big investment in it, and as long as you're enjoying it...that's why we do all this! But repotting is probably really required. The roots should be pale--white to cream. Dark grey roots mean rootrot, which is a fungal disease. If they're really root bound, you may also need to trim them a bit. Brush and/or rinse as much of that soil off as you can. I also don't know what you have available for the powdery mildew--I use neem and am now trying a new fungicide as well, but haven't had enough experience with it to make a recommendation. Could also google how to use baking soda for it, though I haven't tried it personally. My favorite chicken recipe is with rosemary, lemon juice, maple syrup, garlic, and olive oil. Mmmmmmmm....

And yes, the basil is probably ready for potting. It looks healthy.

Done! repotted my second mint plant (made from 9 cuttings), the basil and the rosemary. the rosemary was relatively root bound. dull brownish-grey coloured roots were running around the insides of the pot. is that root rot? i loosen the roots, removed a fair bit of soil, especially the green algae soil on the top. I also watered the new compost after repotting, which is worrying if the plant needs time to dry out. i have it by a fan now, hopefully it will blow off some liquid and speed up evaporation.

In halls we had cleaners. Not in private accommodation, obviously.

In my experience (albeit of a huge outdoor Rosemary) Rosemary roots are brown so I don't think you have any rot. If they're rotten they will squash between finger and thumb.

Are you actually getting any work done? As one of your surrogate internet Mums I think maybe you are spending too much time on these plants and should be getting on with those assignments. What year are you in?

hahaha hey mom. i'm in third year. joint honours in business economics and psychology at the university of glasgow. yup the work load is heavy, and nope. im not getting any work done at home, i can literally stare at the plants for hours. i have to drag myself to the library, and even then, i might be just looking up gardening tips.

I will give the rosemary awhile to get better. waitrose has extended the 20% discount to 28th of this month :D should i get a thyme for £1.00 and a greek basil for £1.20? :D :D :D

Thyme wants the same more arid conditions as rosemary. It can be picky. Greek basil is fun--to me more ornamental than really useful, but it smells great!

And yup--I do feel like I have Scottish plant grand babies--we get regular updates and even pictures! Glad to get you hooked!

Third year !!! Get down to the library and leave those plants in peace.

hahahaha okok i will leave thyme out of the equation. i dont even know what to cook with it anyway. exams in a couple of days. so i will be leaving the plants alone for awhile. hopefully. :D

You can cut 1/3 off the top of your rosemary and use it now. It will make it bush out. I use mine in chicken soup.

*googles chicken soup recipe*

The plant is really short though, only about 5 inches or 13cm tall in the middle. and it seems like it was cut before i bought it.

Question time!!:!:!:!:!: I have been looking up how rosemary grows bushier for awhile now, but havent found any answers. It does not look like it grows branches from the leaf nodes like Mint and Basil, neither does it seem to just grow up from the ground like chives. The rosemary has me very confused, I have read that to make it bushy, just cut the top off, but where do the new branches come from?

James Lin, rosemary is in the same family as mint. While I appreciate your enthusiasm, have you tried to Google the word rosemary? I promise you it would be worth the effort.

From the introduction of the Herbs Forum: "This forum is for the discussion of both the growing and the culinary uses of herbs."

James, your rosemary will develop side stems along the older stems, just like basil and mint. It just takes a bit longer.

New branches will just seem to appear where they want from the main stems. It's not like basil, where pinching tips means auto extra stems at the juncture. Like mint, but it's a tough comparison since mint grows so fast, and rosey quite slow. And mint can be completely cut down and regrow, where rosey you shouldn't harvest too much at a time. Cutting the tips does not automatically mean side branching, but it will help. I've had the rosey in the pic for nearly a year now, and it's probably 1-2 yrs older judging by the thickness of the stem. I post to show you the side stems, and it don't think I harvested from the tops of these ones. It's been pretty happy--even flowered beautifully for me this year, and then inexplicably a large center section dried up and died. Now it's lopsided, but...there seems to be no specific rhyme or reason to how it branches out.

You could probably safely take 3-5 cm from the tips of yours for use now, then see what happens.

Thanks eaga and balloon. That was exactly what I was puzzled about. everywhere is saying that if you cut the tips the plant gets bushy. but i cant find information about where the new stems come from. great to know that it is kinda random... so i wouldnt have to dig the next 8 pages of rosemary care tips on google. mine is definitely a much younger plant though, and it doesnt have woody stems yet... :(

Hey bardamu_gw thanks for the tip, here is one for you, I promise you it would be helpful: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+be+a+nice+person